David Farrell, who has died aged 93, was known primarily for his photographic portraits of the most prominent artists, actors, authors and, particularly, musicians of his time. These ranged from classical performers such as Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar and Jacqueline du Pré to Louis Armstrong, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He would take his portable darkroom with him to filming locations, where he photographed Albert Finney, Julie Christie, Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, among others. His main body of work dates from the mid-1950s to the 1980s, by which time he was working primarily in cinema, but he continued with his photography well into the digital age.

Taking Henri Cartier-Bresson's "humanitarian" photography as his model, Farrell specialised in taking portraits in informal situations – he preferred to photograph artists at home or in the studio, rather than in performance – and imitated the French genius's famed "invisibility". Paul Scofield said that Farrell was the one photographer "who never intruded", and John Gielgud, on seeing Farrell's portrait of him, asked: "David, where were you? I didn't know you were there!" Menuhin, whom he met at the Bath Music festival in 1955 (and at whose music school he first photographed Nigel Kennedy, at the age of 11) became another friend for life: he claimed that Farrell created the visual equivalent of his own musical achievements.

Farrell was born in Dulwich, south London, and was supported by his grandfather, who led the life of a rentier and gave his occupation as "gentleman". David's father, who travelled for a British electricity company, was in his 50s and working in Nigeria when he contracted malaria, from which he died when David was 21. David's mother was passionate about music and took him to violin lessons from the age of three. As he grew up, his musical talent consumed a major part of his life; he attended Manor House and Dulwich schools, then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, studying under Max Rostal.

David Farrell's first love was music and he started out as a solo violinist

The second world war interrupted Farrell's studies and in 1940 he enlisted in the RAF, spending the next five years as a pilot officer with Bomber Command. In 1942 he married his teenage sweetheart, Joyce Manning, an amateur singer and a great supporter of his playing, despite the difficulties of his making a living. As their family grew – they had five children over 10 years – Farrell decided to leave his career as a solo violinist to become a self-taught photographer. The family moved to rural Gloucestershire and Farrell was obliged, in his daughter Cassie's words, "to photograph a lot of rich people's kids, and the whole hunting fraternity. He became very in demand among the county set."

There was, however, another social set, composed partly of weekend visitors, which included the sculptors Lynn Chadwick and Eduardo Paolozzi, the scientist and author Jacob Bronowski, the economist Leopold Kohr and the playwright Peter Nichols, who all became close friends. Through them, Farrell found work with the National Theatre and the Tate Gallery in London.

He maintained his love of music and never expressed bitterness at the sacrifice of his first career. Instead, he performed informally whenever he could, sometimes with the musicians and composers he met, but mostly in duets and string quartets with the younger generations. His son-in-law, John Adams, became his piano accompanist. "Farrell was no prima donna," says Adams. "He had a human quality that meant he always played to the other musician's level, even if it was that of a 10-year-old child. His favourite form of relaxation was family concerts."

He was intrigued by all the arts. In 1964 he returned to the Bath festival to photograph Margot Fonteyn dancing with Rudolf Nureyev. That day, it transpired, Fonteyn was informed that her husband had been shot in Panama. In the evening, Nureyev declared himself in need of a drink and the two men stopped at the Roman baths on their way to a pub. A cleaner admitted them in return for Nureyev's signature, and Farrell obtained iconic images of the dancer, shot in available light, moodily staring into the watery stone cisterns.

The Farrell family returned to West Hampstead during the swinging 60s, and Farrell photographed the popular singers, including Adam Faith, Petula Clark, Helen Shapiro and Tom Jones, who appeared on early TV music programmes such as Top of the Pops. He worked for London Weekend and Thames Television, providing stills and working as a cameraman. In 1968 he photographed Peter Hall's film of A Midsummer Night's Dream (with David Warner, Diana Rigg and Helen Mirren), and in 1970 he shot Hall's stage version, followed by Peter Brook's film of King Lear, set in windswept Jutland, with Scofield in the title role.

Through the 70s and 80s, Farrell worked on more than 100 feature films and TV dramas, alongside directors including Ken Loach, Blake Edwards and Michael Winner. These exceptional projects included Moustapha Akkad's Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976), filmed in the Libyan desert with Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas. On one commission he captured the last footage of Peter Sellers, fooling around while shooting an advert (which was never used) for Barclays bank in Ireland.

Farrell insisted on doing all his own printing, with Joyce ably assisting the cropping and retouching. While he retained a preference for black-and-white photography, he happily transferred sections of his back catalogue online, and began using a digital camera in his 80s. For the first time, he found himself on the other side of a camera when Cassie began making videos of him, recounting the stories of his lifetime. "He had so many anecdotes, he never needed to repeat himself," she says. "Dad was no David Bailey, although he took many of the same subjects. The problem was that he was no salesman."

He was also no reliable archivist, leaving behind rooms filled with boxes of original prints. On one rare occasion of a clearout, he filled bin bags, mistakenly throwing out his early Beatles pictures. They were duly removed by the dustmen.

Although he found time for few exhibitions during his busy and productive life, Farrell's considerable collection is now mainly shared between the Getty and Lebrecht archives. In recent years, small shows were mounted in Bristol, at the Barbican, in London, and in Bath (2009); there remains much more to be seen.

Farrell is survived by Joyce; two daughters; and two of his three sons.

• David Farrell, photographer, born 28 August 1919; died 3 January 2013

• This article was amended on 5 March. The 1971 film of King Lear was directed by Peter Brook rather than Peter Hall.